Final Week of Spring Ball; LIVE BLOG 4 FRIDAY'S SPRING GAME

JUPITER -- We're down to 4 spring practices including Friday's Blue/Gold Spring Game -- which we willhave a LIVE GPP BLOG ongiving you play-by-play as your Panthers offense and defense match up.

Good suggestion, blkpanther. Want to keep the 44 GPP states and 30 GPP countries abreast of the Panthers.

Spring game starts at 6 p.m. Friday and I anticipate to start the LIVE BLOGGING AT 5:45 p.m. for some pre-game talk.

In Jupiter tonight with the Marlins and Mets. J.T. Wilcox went to cover FIU practice, but Tuesday's workout got washed out by rain and lightning. Will be back at FIU Stadium on Wednesday.

As we head into the final week of spring practice, here are some spring observations that you can watch for in Friday's spring game if you are in Miami and if you're in cyberspace, then you can check on when we're LIVE BLOGGING on Friday. (I'm contractually obligated by Gatorade to always type LIVE BLOGGING in CAPS each time I do so, that's what my agent says).

We still have August to go, but Wayne Younger (below right, thanks Alex J. Hernandez photo) appears to have moved ahead of Colt Anderson for the backup spot this spring. Not saying WY has cemented the No. 2 job, but WY seems to be more comfortable running the O and is throwing the ball with more authority than he has in the past.

WY led 1 of the 2 TD drives in last Saturday's scrimmage. WY had some good passes in the drive that ended with Darriet Perry taking it in for 6 from 22 yards out.

DP has been solid. John Ellis has looked good running the ball, something he hasn't really had a chance to do in his first 3 years at FIU. JE is a load to bring down at about 245 pounds -- that's a big back. That's why his teammates call him "The Bus".

Walk-on Jonathan Ramirez has been elusive running the ball, but along with rushing duties he might get a look in the defensive backfield.

Jason "Ty" Frierson made some good grabs on Saturday with JTF having the only TD catch on a 68-yarder from Wesley Carroll. And it was a legitimate 68-yarder where JTF went about 48 yards and WC hit him in stride down the middle of the field busting a Cover 2. JTF sprinted in the final 20 yards for the score.

Defensively, Aaron Davis continued his solid spring and so did Scott Bryant and Winston Fraser.

The FIU defense pretty much controlled the offense on Saturday. Outside of the 2 TD drives, the O didn't really move the ball much.

The FIU secondary got 3 INTs on Saturday with safety Derrick Clark getting the first one and seemed to have a wall of blockers for what could have been about a 79-yard return for 6, but after 30 yards Carroll forced DC out of bounds.

Dez Johnson (left, AJH photo), who has had a good spring playing pass D, tipped the second INT and Anthony Gaitor snatched it.

Kreg Brown made a diving grab for the 3rd INT of the day. O'Darris D'Haiti made a nice stuff on a screen pass.

PP: Been told the spring media guide should be on line either Wednesday or Thursday.

SouthPaw: Can you give us an update on any remaining scholarships for this season?

PP: There should be 1 scholie left.

OC Panther: Hey Pete, Whats it going to take to get the baseball team ranked this season? We used to get on there pretty regularly... are we off the radar now?

PP: FIU needs to get on a long winning streak or keep winning every series like they have so far this season. Unfortunately, a team's recent history also figures somewhat in the voting and FIU baseball has not had much success in the last 8 years.

FIUFPL: PETE, CAN YOU MAKE THIS AN ACTUAL ARTICLE IN THE HERALD PLEASE.

PP: Since I'm not a columnist they won't run the previous blog as an article in the MH.